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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Winter Forecast

The habits of insects, birds and plants have been foretelling winter weather to farmers for years. Some may consider it folklore, but bees nests built high off the ground, a foggy August, an abundance of spiders sneaking into the house, and the early turning of the trees have long been clues of a harsh winter to come. Because I have captured and released at least a dozen spiders in the past month, recently noticed a bees nest at the absolute highest point of our home, and the Farmers' Almanac is predicting a extraordinarily snowy winter - I think I'm going to go ahead and pull out the winter coats.

For the Atlantic Corridor, the Almanac says: "Despite a mild November, this winter will be colder and snowier than normal, with near or above-normal precipitation. The coldest temperatures will occur in mid-December, early January, and early February. The snowiest periods will be in early and mid-December, early January, early and late February, and early March."

Read more about the winter forecast and the 2008-2009 Farmers' Almanac predictions here and here.